1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to sandwich panels for building construction, and more particularly to an improved foam core sandwich panel, a method for the manufacture thereof, and a panel assembly system for the panelized construction of buildings.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The industry of panelizers, which includes the pre-cutter, the conventional 2.times.4 wall panelizers, the more exotic dome home, log home, timber frame, foam core panels and other alternative housing segments, is the housing industry of the future. The many advantages of panelized housing include better price, less labor costs, less costs of design and engineering, better quality, less time of construction, and better return on investment.
The new trend will be the use of foam core panel construction for interior and exterior walls, floor and ceiling/roof components. The foam core panels give the building even greater strength than 2.times.4 stud walls with far fewer pieces. The resulting building itself is extremely well insulated, weather tight, and virtually sound proof.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,363,378, Building Panel and Method of Assembly; U.S. Pat. No. 3,482,897, Building Construction and Residential Building and Method of Fabricating Thereof on Construction Site; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,163,349, Insulated Building Panels; are but three of the many patents that describe modular sandwich building panels.
The present invention is an improvement over the prior art in that it utilizes cement-fiber boards or cement-woodchip boards as the outer surface members and polyurethane foam within the panels. Factory-built and installed housing components designed for field assembly and inter-connection keep labor costs to a minimum. Major differences that combine to distinguish the present invention from other systems are: (1) interior and/or exterior skins or faces that are fire rated, autoclaved, or compressed materials composed of cement-fiber or cement-woodchip boards; (2) injected, pressurized, fire rated foam core between the outer skins for complete adhesion between the form core and faces; (3) in-panel electrical, plumbing, door and window components; (4) low cost of interior and exterior finish application; (5) non-skilled labor construction of the entire structure; (6) meets class A fire rating; (7) high structural values; (8) high insulation value (R 23.35 for 4 inch wall); (9) earthquake resistant, (exceeds zone 4 requirements); (10) waterproof; (11) hurricane force wind resistant, (exceeds 200 mph as per NAVDOC); (12) approval as a State of California Factory-Built Housing system; (13) recognition by Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under Category III acceptance in Handbook 4950.1, REV-2, Technical Suitability of Products Program Processing Procedures; (14) acceptance by Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) for rural housing development program financing.